HARRY MORGAN-WINTER
chunky Vet said. This fellow had the old rale and
he was all broke out on the shoulders and back.
Every time they'd go into a clinch he'd rub his
shoulder under Red's nose or across his puss.'
'Oh, nuts. What did he put his face there for?'
That was the way Red carried his head when he
was in close. Down, like this. And this fellow was
just roughing him.'
'Oh, nuts. That story is all bull. Nobody ever
got the old rale from anybody in a fight/
That's what you think. Listen, Red was as clean
a living kid as you ever saw. I knew him. He was in
my outfit. He was a good little fighter, too. I mean
good. He was married, too, to a nice girl I mean
nice. And this Benny Sampson gave him that old
rale just as sure as I'm standing here.5
- Then sit down,' said another Vet. 'How did
Poochy get it?'
'He got it in Shanghai.'
'Where did you get yours?'
'I ain't got it.'
'Where did Suds get it?'
'Off a girl in Brest, coming home.'
That's all you guys ever talk about. The old
rale. What difference does the old rale make?'
'None, the way we are now,' one Vet said.
'You're just as happy with it.'
Toochy's happier. He don't know where he is.'
'What's the old rale?' Professor MacWalsey asked
the man next to him at the bar. The man told him.
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